1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a long-sized wire collecting apparatus which can be advantageously used in combination with an automatic insulated wire cutting and insulation stripping machine, particularly when wires to be cut are long-sized.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The techniques which form the background of the invention are disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,394 "WIRE CUTTING AND STRIPPING MACHINE" issued to K. H. Andren; U.S. Pat. No. 2,929,284 "MULTIPLE WIRE CUTTER AND STRIPPER" issued to H. W. Hagstrand; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,633 "WIRE CUTTING, STRIPPING AND TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINE" issued to K. H. Andren. The techniques disclosed therein teach an apparatus comprising cutter assemblies, a movable clamp device and a slide bar for slidably supporting said movable clamp device for reciprocating motion. Each cutter assembly comprises a pair of opposed wire cutting blades, pairs of opposed insulation cutting blades disposed on opposite sides of said pair of wire cutting blades, and means for holding said pairs so that they can be opened and closed. Therefore, the withdrawal of the wire by a predetermined amount centrally through the cutter assemblies which are in their opened state is effected by the movable clamp device, followed by the opening and closing operation of the cutter assemblies to effect the cutting of the wire and the cutting of only the insulation on opposite sides of such cutting place, and then the stripping of the cut insulation strips is effected by some movement of the clamp device. Such automatic insulated wire cutting and insulation stripping machine is usually referred to as automatic wire stripper (hereinafter referred to simply as wire stripper).
When said wire stripper is applied where the wire to be cut is long-sized, it is usual practice to mount a suitable cam mechanism on the apparatus for short-sized wires, increase the number of hauling operations using the movable clamp device, withdraw the wire by a predetermined length, and then effect the cutting and stripping. In this connection, the hauling operation on the wire by the movable clamp device is achieved in that the clamp section releases the wire after each stroke. Therefore, the wire being withdrawn considerably downwardly flexes, so that inside the tray for receiving the wire, already cut wire lengths collected therein interfere with the travel of the wire being withdrawn, thus making it difficult for the wire to travel smoothly. As a result, bends are formed on the wire, detracting from the linearity of the wire and disturbing the arrangement of the front ends of the cut wire lengths collected in the wire receiving tray. Such disturbed arrangement of the front ends produces various problems, such as interference with the terminal attaching operation to be performed in the next step.
In order to solve these problems, there has been previously developed a "long-sized wire collecting device for use with automatic insulated wire cutting and insulation stripping machine" disclosed in Japanese Pat. Nos. 20551/72 and 24106/73. In these disclosed apparatuses, however, it is essential for the operator to be present by the side of the apparatus in order to pick up cut and stripped wire lengths, make them into bundles each containing a predetermined number of wire lengths, and suitably package said bundles. Therefore, whenever the operator leaves the apparatus for one reason or another, he has to stop the operation of the apparatus. This decreases the efficiency of operation. Further, since each time a predetermined number of cut wire lengths are prepared, the operator has to remove the same without delay, the operator's mental fatigue has been great.